I
born Jan. 12, 1810, Palermo, Sicily
died May 22, 1859, Caserta
King of the Two
He followed his father, Francis I, as king and initially instituted reforms, but his rule gradually became authoritarian, and he severely repressed a number of liberal and national revolts. His heavy bombardment of Sicilian cities in 1848 earned him the name "King Bomba." His government's increasingly absolute character denied the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies a role in the Risorgimento and caused its collapse and incorporation into Italy in 1860.
II
born July 9, 1578, Graz, Styria
died Feb. 15, 1637, Vienna
Holy Roman emperor (1619–37), archduke of Austria, king of Bohemia (1617–19, 1620–27) and king of Hungary (1618–25).
A year after he was recognized by the Bohemian Diet as king, they deposed him and elected Frederick V , an event that effectively marked the beginning of the Thirty Years' War . After annihilating the rebel army in 1620, he greatly reduced the Diet's power. A rigidly Catholic ruler, he forcibly Catholicized Bohemia and suppressed Protestantism throughout his lands. He maintained much of his power through the victories of Albrecht W.E. von Wallenstein but later concluded a compromise peace with the Protestant princes. He was the leading champion of the Catholic Counter-Reformation and of absolutist rule in the Thirty Years' War.
III
known as Ferdinand the Catholic Spanish Fernando el Católico
born March 10, 1452, Sos, Aragon
died Jan. 23, 1516
King of Aragon from 1479, king of Castile (as Ferdinand V) from 1474 (joint sovereign with Queen Isabella I until 1504), king of Sicily (as Ferdinand II, 1468–1516), and king of Naples (as Ferdinand III, 1503–16).
The son of John II of Aragon (1398–1479), Ferdinand married Isabella of Castile in 1469 and fought to impose his authority over the nobles in the two kingdoms. As part of an effort to modernize Castile, they banned all religions other than Roman Catholicism, leading to the Spanish Inquisition (1478) and the expulsion of the Jews (1492). Conquest of Granada in 1492 made it possible to support Christopher Columbus 's voyages to the New World. Ferdinand furthered his expansionary policies in the Mediterranean and in Africa. After the conquest of Naples in 1503, during the {{link=Italian Wars">Italian Wars , Spain rivaled France as the most powerful state in Europe. By uniting the Spanish kingdoms into the nation of Spain, Ferdinand began Spain's entry into the modern period of imperial expansion.